them to omit words to make it shorter. The activity illustrated in Table 2 will lead to a discussion about which words can be omitted and why.
Teachers can also ask students to write out two “identical” conversations with a partner: a long version and a short version. Students then perform both versions for the class, followed by a discussion. This activity helps students incor- porate ellipsis into their spoken production.
Ellipsis can also be incorporated into short games. After dividing students into groups, the teacher writes a long question or sentence on the board. The teacher
then goes around the room, giving each team a point for every new, shorter question or sentence they create that has the same meaning as the original. For example:
The teacher asks the long question: Do you want to dance?
Team 1: “You want to dance?” = 1 point Team 2: “Wanna dance?” = 1 point
When no group can come up with a new, shorter question or sentence, the teacher writes a new question or sentence on the board, and the game starts over.
Similarly, in groups of four, students can challenge each other. For example, Pair A cre- ates a long question and answer, and Pair B makes a short version of it. If Pair B creates an acceptable short question and answer, the pair gets a point; if Pair B does not, Pair A gets the point. The students decide for themselves whether the shorter version is acceptable, and if they are not sure, the teacher acts as a judge. After a few rounds back and forth, the game changes so that Pair A creates a shorter version of a sentence or question and Pair B must give a longer version.
Spoken English activities for heads and tails
A number of activities can be used to introduce the concept of heads and tails, dis- cuss their roles in spoken English, and help students practice using heads and tails in their own conversations.
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